PrairieDog

PrairieDog chirps in resignation and dives back down

hear ya!

Well, okay, one national outlet and a bunch of conservative tabloids and clickbait compilers. Drawing my own conclusion.

I’m having a hard time tracking what time of year it is. It feels like late March here right now. Cloudy, above freezing, just little patches of snow and ice here and there to keep you on your toes. Even the lilacs and maples started to swell their buds it was so warm in December, so the trees have that soft early spring fuzzy look. Walking to and from the barn, I keep reflexively glancing up at the phoebe nestbox to see if they’re back yet. Then I’m bummed when I remember it’s only January, and we still have two of the longest, snowier months of winter ahead.

Thanks for letting folks know. It’s always tough when you realize a familiar nick has disappeared. Trusting he is resting well.

Prairiedog pops out of the burrow, sniffing tentatively…. Wonders if the original TV case is still around and in good shape? Kinda leery of light colored cases? I’ve gotta Songbird situation I’m still wrangling, though.

Hey good luck with procedure. Hope it helps

Chuckle, in ‘78 some friends and I had gone to the ELO concert. I didn’t really know them and wasn’t into their music, but got a free ticket, so had just gone along for something to do. Later that night, we were on our way out after closing down the bar at a hotel when some very drunk, long-haired, Brits got on our elevator. As they exited the next floor they invited us to come along to a party. My friends figured they must be with band. There was just a handful of pretty loosened up folks left in the room. Everybody was pretty lit, and they all kept inviting us to help ourselves to the catering table which, as far as I could tell, only consisted of a large bowl of “sugar.” Anyways, besides the large naked guy busy servicing his gf in the corner, the small group left were all “hail-fellow-well-met” with us, and looked to be blowing off the usual post show rowdies. I ended up having a great chat with a quieter fellow about the small town in England he lived in that I had just happened to visit. We were talking about the bakery, town characters, etc. I figured the guy was probably homesick, so I was happy to indulge his reveries, and get his mind off the tedium of touring. At one point my buddy’s girlfriend rudely interrupted us and made a lame attempt to hit on the dude, and he gave her a bored diss, “what the bleep does that have to do with Sutton on Tyne?” or wherever the town was. Then pointedly turned his back and went back on chatting with me about his mum. Ouch. Anyway, after things were really winding down, my friends were ready to head out, and we were just moving into some deep metaphysical philosophical discussion or another, you know how it goes with artsy types. So the guy wants me to stay, and offers to have a driver take me home. I’m thinking wow, this is some tour if even the roadies get drivers. But manners got the best of me, and I regretfully but graciously bowed out, saying I came with my buddies, I should head out with them. As we walked away I said, “nice guy, must be rough lugging amps around the country.” That’s when the dissed gf snorted and told me I had been jawing all night with Mik Kaminski. Good thing he didn’t ask me what I thought of the show…

Funny story. I was a kid with my first cheap acoustic. So I was sitting on my front stoop strumming, pretending I was John Denver up in the mountains or something, (okay, gimme a break, it was like 1970). A fellow walking past came up and smiled. Asked about the guitar and how long I had played. I mumbled something about being brand new and just starting. He asked if he could show me a few things, I said, “sure!” He took the guitar and gave me a few chords, a strumming pattern, and a bit of simple picking. Then he flew up and down the thing like doves taking off to heaven. Handed it back with a warm smile, and said, “Have fun! Practice!” My mom came out and asked if I knew who that was? “He said his name was Leo.” He was staying around the block from us, and I always brag he gave me my first guitar lesson, not that you could tell or anything 😆

Nod, I HATE that. Right now, I’m trying to pick up banjo riffs. What the heck? Why are you zooming in on his face during the big breakdown!? On the other hand, Rhiannon Giddens Wayfaring Stranger is a treat, like she knew we’d be trying to snag the tune, lots of close ups of both hands, so you can even slow it down to see what order she is plucking in. (Sorry about the ‘b’ word.)

Actually, most delivery trucks are not heated at all. for the long haul they are in a semi-trailer, then parked at the facility until it gets unloaded, and the final miles are either not conditioned or barely. My cans of frozen pet food from Chewy is proof. Part of what the UPS strike was about. Those poor schmucks drive around in below zero weather with open cabs and the equivalent of a sterno candle for a heater, nothing gets into the back, and no AC in the summer when it is 100. My guy deserves every envelope I slip him at the holidays.

Grin, actually I’m blessed with an *extremely* patient and indulgent better half. Of course it may help that we’ve been playing, “one for you and one for me” lately 😁

The technology exists where guys in their mom’s basements, with a decent computer, can stick famous people in compromising/embarrassing/sordid positions seamlessly. Nothing more than CGI effects aided by AI. Of course, there is still just the good old fashioned look-a-like “stand-ins.” Funny thing, years back, we attended an invitation only, private porch concert by “Almost Willie.” Even though he and the hosts said he was just a local guy who tours the country doing a tribute show, I spent that entire set, 6 feet away, trying to convince myself it *wasn’t* Willie. He was that good. Besides just the appearance, and mannerisms, I have a really good ear for voices, and the tone/delivery/cadence and even his speaking patter, was absolutely spot on. Tbh, I’m still not entirely sure it wasn’t all just a ruse to keep the exclusive party from being crashed by the hordes, chuckle. And interestingly, for a “local” guy, I’d never heard of him before this, and he’s never popped up anywhere here since. “Almost Willie” if you’re on here, chime in, and take a bow! Chuckle.

Nod, I’m with you. One of the few things obscure parts of the internet are good for.

Remember back in the early days, these videos are usually outtakes from TV shows like Midnight Special, or variety shows with musical acts. In this case, it seems to be Beat Club. A German musical showcase that ran from ‘65 to ‘72. Still way cool because we got the whole jam, instead of just a 3 minute song before the cut to commercial. I’m guessing it’s a portion of the acoustic set they would open their concerts with. I had totally forgotten Frampton started there.

Trés Bien! C’est beau!

It is squarely in the Gibson camp! ☺️ It’s *very* close to my Walnut Studio J 45, and a frankly shyer version of the DIF (which is kinda an unfair comparison). It is well mannered though and plays nicely with the Taylors and resos. It hasn’t met the banjo yet 😄. It does have a nice vocal scoop, but so do the others. And that’s part of what I’m wavering about. It doesn’t really bring anything new to what I already have. But it has charm. Re the mark. it is a stain. it is very pink under the right light. Just about the size and shape of a “paid” stamp, like the guy said. The light really matters to how visible it is, but once you know it’s there, it’s very hard to unsee it. Sigh. That was a good point about the preamp. As you know, even now I was concerned it might not even work when I first saw it. I still haven’t plugged it in, so who knows, could just be a “hole plug” at this point. It did come with a dandy “DanElectro Vintage Power” 9v tucked in the case. I’m sure that will give it some good old retro sound when I do fire it up 😆 I was on my way down to Willies to check out a 1910 L1 when I got sidetracked here. I’m thinking about resuming that trip to see if I threw the money in the wrong direction. Thanks for your thoughts, always good to hear your take.

And that there is why it’s suspect and just a false flag dog whistle for race-baiting. Would people care if it “weren’t” Chinese people? Would we be having the side discussion about governments and judgy comments about how some people from other countries think they can control us?

I’m now questioning the whole sequence. The big tell on any of these is when the point could be shown in a couple of minutes, but it’s a half hour long. And when there is endless wind-up at the beginning to keep you engaged until the “payoff.” In some, they’ll give you the bus ride there, the ride up the escalator, the stop at the pretzel booth, shots of the crowd, the store fronts all before the actual event and the outrageous behavior. You gotta ask why did the person recording waste so much battery and pixels on pointless fluff? In this case, on a mall piano player? I mean why were they even recording for 10 minutes BEFORE the altercation? And why didn’t they just edit the vid to get to the captivating point? Who does that, except for folks who know something is a set up and clickbait trolls stalling for time. It is kinda like the videos of the kid/dog/stooge getting eaten by the alligator/running into the street/suddenly falling on their ***/getting splashed by paint/smacked with a board, all while someone films. Really? You wouldn’t put down your phone to try to stop the *bad thing* from happening? And just how did they happen to be recording something otherwise as interesting as paint drying, at *just the right moment*? 🤔 Well, because they know it’s a set up/faked.

Thanks Dave. As a collector, I’m right about the pink stain pretty much crashing any of it’s historical value, right? I gotta admit, while I always buy for tone first, part of my attraction here was I thought, given otherwise near mint condition, I might have seen a little return when the time came to say goodbye (many years in the future, I hope.)

Hey thanks, Buc. Appreciate it. And the reassurance. Yeah, at the heel it just seems like it’s just the nitro. The pieces themselves are tight still. Just wasn’t sure why it would be failing there exactly, but your comment about the wood moving makes total sense, and I should have realized that was all it was.

It’s called clickbait. While your eyes are glued to the vid, the data-miners have a 1/2 hour to crawl through your device, and flash ads in the margins. Same with all those endless pages of “quizzes” and “do you remembers?” Every click on every individual page of those things is a “hit” record for the trolls.

What about “pikes a-flashing by the rising of the moon?” C’mon, that’s your cultural heritage, man!

Ha ha! See my new post NGD(?)

There are a couple things that are giving me some doubts: One is this finish issue on the heel, could it be a sign of bad things to come? It’s on both sides of the heel. And second, at the store we found a faint pink stain centered right on the lower middle low on the bout. I thought the finish (except for the heel bit) was almost mint. I don’t know how I missed it, except bringing out under the bright main lights of the store. I can’t even photo it well, you can kind of see a shadow in the front view. Of course it doesn’t affect the tone at all, but it takes away any real collector value and it now is just another really nice player. I payed 2k so still a chunk off a new SW dlx at 3,400.00 And lastly, what about those bridge pins, in the stain hoopla I forgot to have them set those right. I’m assuming it’s just an issue with how someone set the strings on the last change, but is my ignorance showing and is something I should worry about? Otherwise it sounds great, but I confess playing it with the other kids it doesn’t bring a whole lot different to the mix, other than a bit of Ferguson era to the playground. So, what does my wallet think? Should I send it back to the shelter? Do you want to save my money for something better?